Road Trip
by XyKPfan
Summary: When a friend's wedding is being held, Ash and May set off on a road trip with their kids in tow. Advanceshipping, includes Gymshipping and Ikarishipping-mentions only.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Okay. I know I've been out for a while and I sincerely apologize for it. Just like last time, all the files on my computer were completely lost! I got so frustrated that I had put the computer down and my stories on hold for a while, which was totally unfair to those of you who anxiously await the updates of your favorite stories. So, after many months of moping, I'm finally picking up the pieces I left behind with ALL of my stories. Yah! In the meantime, I've composed this little future fic a bit prematurely but I think you've done enough waiting for now. This will be probably about 10-12 chapters long, so it's not a very long series.

So without futher ado, I present to you, my readers, _Road Trip_, starring Ash and May!

Takes place several years after the events in _The More Things Change._

**Warning**: SPOLIER ALERT! This story contains events that are to happen in future chapters of _The More Things Change_. If you do not want to spoil the story, or if you want to be surprised and see the events for when the story is updated (which will is still a couple weeks away), DO NOT READ THIS! IT IS A MAJOR SPOILER! AGAIN, SPOLIER ALERT!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

May Ketchum stepped out the front door of her house and stared. The monstrosity sitting in their driveway represented one thing to her…

…defeat.

She sat down on the stoop, propping her chin on her upturned palm. At least it was a new model, with all the accoutrements expected from a high-end, late model such as she was staring at. There was a full satellite hookup with both onboard and remote navigation capabilities. The communications array could keep them in touch with virtually the whole planet if they wished to. The seats were not only wrapped in leather softer than any Italian made glove, but boasted the latest in computer controlled custom comfort appliances. Once the computer was made aware of her biometrics, it would instantly conform to her personal preferences, without so much as touching a button.

The cabin had separate climate zones, with heat or air conditioning delivered to any seat, be it in the front or the back. The front passenger seat could be tilted back almost all the way without interfering with anyone sitting in the back. Everything about it screamed comfort and luxury.

She still hated it.

Sitting in their front drive was the one type of vehicle she never wanted to own.

An SUV.

Of course, her feelings toward that class of vehicles really didn't apply. It didn't burn copious amounts of gasoline, nor was it noisy. It was designed to ride as if they weren't even in a vehicle. Her father's beloved Jaguar wasn't as smooth riding as the new _Glissade_ parked in front of the house.

It still stood for the kind of environmental waste she always stood against.

Sure, in high-tech looking chrome letters it said 'hybrid' on the rear hatch. That had become a badge of honor among people like her. That in itself wasn't what put her mind at ease so much as the fact the gasoline powered engine that normally charged the electric motors in such a vehicle had been replaced with a special cold-fusion fuel cell. The 'truck' (as her husband Ash called it) would not need refueling for close to a century.

She remained tweaked at it simply because it was a large sports-utility-vehicle. Most people that saw it wouldn't get close enough to see the fake "hybrid" plate. They would simply assume it was just another gas imbibing monster that got only a dozen or so miles from a thirty-five dollar gallon of fuel. Her fear was that the moment she climbed into it, a photo of her would be flashed instantly around the globe, with thousands of irate fellow environmentalists clamoring for her virtual head.

It would have been so much better to fly. It wasn't like they couldn't afford the tickets. Ash had parlayed the small fortune he received from the trust fund his mother had set up for him into something much larger. He still worked as the executive massage therapist at _Milotic's Palazzo_, but that was sort of a personal indulgence.

She never once thought she would be in her position by the age of twenty-seven. She was well on her way to receiving her doctorate. For a while, after completing her undergraduate work, she thought she would return to coordinating, though in a much more professional role. Three months after her wedding, she learned that would not be in the cards for a while. Then, just as things were shaping up in the coordinating department again, she found out that she was once again pregnant.

At least this time it was planned. She and Ash had actually been trying for a little over a year. It seemed so easy the first time. In fact, the twins came along as a bit of a surprise. They wanted to wait a few years before they started having kids, but one journey kept them away from home for a while, and during that time they were together, her birth control pills sitting in a drawer, at home.

She rested her hands on her six-months pregnant belly for a moment, thinking about the little girl growing inside her.

The screaming in the house announced that her three-year old son had come down from his upstairs room and was chasing his sister and god-sister around the house, most likely with his specially modified super-soaker gun. It did little good to tell him not to use a water gun in the house, or to take it away. He always found it.

The door burst open and two girls came piling out of the house, flying over the steps and landing in a dead run. Wet streaks on their clothes told the tale. PJ was on the prowl with his favorite weapon. And his older brother was right there with him.

The girl in front was May's six-year old daughter. Mozelle, or Zelly as they called her, had May's sun kissed brown hair and round face, but everything else she had was strictly Ash. She had his ears, his nose, and even his trademark zigzag freckles, though very faintly. She always went on about becoming the first female Pokémon Master, another trait she gained from her father, but she also said she wanted to become a Pokémon Coordinator just like her mother as well. With her little Spheal, she was well on her way to obtaining either of those goals. The running joke between the two of them was that she should have been named ASHley, with the emphasis on the "Ash" part.

The other little girl was actually no blood relation to any of them, though she had spent the last few months with the young parents instead of her natural forebears. Her parents were actually away dealing with an important matter involving her mother and a lady named Jessiebelle.

Amethyst Rossdale was almost surreally pretty. She had her father's glittering green eyes, but everything else came from her mother, with the exception of her hair, which was periwinkle. She was four inches taller than Zelly and was clearly going to be a quite petite young woman some day, unless some strange growth spurt were to occur. Her hair was already down to her waist and not a day went by that May didn't think she looked just like a miniature version of her mother.

Jessie and James Rossdale had been given a second chance. Despite leaving their old ways behind, they would probably always be wanted criminals. A sort of truce had been called when they abandoned Team Rocket and when they became an home decorator/interior designer and university professor, respectively. Officer Jenny was still on the lookout for Team Rocket members. Only when Ash and May pleaded did the police look the other way. They had to write several statements saying that the two former Rocket grunts had given up on their lives as thieves and desperately wanted to live as "normal citizens". A judge ruled that as long as they didn't engage in anymore criminal activity, then they could have their freedom. It was awfully strange that the four of them had only a few years earlier been mortal enemies, but the fact remained that Ash and May were glad to take in their little girl.

Two more shapes came charging out the door. The one bringing up the rear was Ash and May's older son and Zelly's twin, Sebastian Ketchum. He had his father's auburn eyes and his grandfather's seal brown hair (Giovanni), only his was much longer, coming down to his shoulders. He was always very ambitious and eager to do anything. This boy was truly Ash's seed as he was like him in every way. Just like his father, he wanted to become a Champion and even Pokémon Master someday. And with his trusty Bagon, May believed he would soon be on the fast track to achieving his goals.

The other shape was bearing an air-powered water gun like it was an assault rifle. PJ was a straight cross between his parents. In shape and build, he looked just like his uncle Max when he was that old. He had Ash's spiky jet black hair and trademark freckles that formed zigzag lines just below his eyes and May's blue eyes. His complexion was a shade darker than May's, but not as dark as his father's. PJ was always finding a way to get into mischief. And I mean _always_! Every time Ash saw the little monster, he was always running around the house with May hot on his trail. But no matter how quick-tempered or disobedient their little offspring was, Ash and May loved him just as much as any parent loves their own child. He was named after Ash's own bitter rival Paul (though, reluctantly so), as a way to repay him for May giving birth in his very expensive _Infiniti_.

For a three-year-old, the charging little boy moved with power and confidence, and not the tiniest little bit of fear. The scrapes and bruises on his arms and legs were testament to his adventurous spirit.

PJ may have been fast, but his mother was even faster. One moment he was charging past her on the stoop, ready to blast his playmates with is aquatic assault rifle, the next he was empty-handed. He skidded to a halt and glared at his mother for a moment.

"Gimme that back! It's mine!" He stomped one foot, as if that would fracture the sidewalk in front of him.

"No, Paul." May was much more likely to use his full name rather than his initials. It was Ash's doing calling his son that. "We're going to be leaving in a little bit, and I don't want the four of you all sweaty and dirty. We're going to be in the car for a very long time.

"Well, dey starid it! Ammie twied to kith me!"

"Did not." The tiny nine-year old said, emerging from her hiding place.

"Did too! You were twying to gimme your icky gull germs."

"And Bagon and I were trying to shoo them away before they could contaminate us!" Seb added.

"Ba Ba!" Bagon cried.

"I don't get germs."

"Don't care. Ammie, you don't kiss Paul. Paulie, the water gun stays home." She pulled the stopper, letting the huge tank on top drain out onto the grass of their front yard. "Now, inside with all of you. I want you to take care of business before we leave, because Daddy's not stopping until we get to the hotel."

The four children trotted into the house. At least they knew what she meant, even if she sometimes had to explain it to Ash. Of course, they would very likely have to stop several times anyhow. The Glissade might not need gas, but with her expanding midsection pressing on her bladder, there was no way she was going to last the roughly one-thousand miles before they reached their planned stay at the halfway point.

She still would have thought it was a better idea to fly, but Ash was somehow enamored with the thought of cross-country road trips. He also kept making the argument that pregnant women shouldn't fly, but she still had three months to go and wasn't in danger of giving birth on the plane. He won the battle once he went to go pick up the new SUV.

One day May was going to discover where Max came up with all the materials for the gadgets they provided for them. Obviously he managed somehow to turn a great many of his inventions into income, but she never really had a handle on how much. Ash even said from time to time that he suspected the oil companies were paying him millions every year just to keep cheap energy technology like the power cells of their cars off the market.

Ash appeared at the front door, trying desperately to handle as much of their luggage in one trip as he possibly could. If this was an actual journey, he could have his gear pared down to what would fit in their small backpacks, yet on a 'normal' trip, he never quite got the hang of only carrying what they needed. She was certain their closet had literally been cleaned out.

"Baby, let me help you with that."

"No way, May. No heavy lifting. Doctor's orders."

She put her hands on her hips. "You know good and well Mom was exaggerating. I'm not having any complications this time around and there's nothing there that's over the limit."

"Okay, carry this." He handed her a canvas bag. Curious, she looked through it, pulling out a small red and white device.

"I thought we talked about this." She held the pokéball up, waving it like it was some contraband found in the children's things.

"Aw, come on, May. What if…"

"What if? Ash, we agreed. No extra pokémon on this trip."

"Seb and Zelly get to bring their pokémon? Pikachu's coming and I know you're not leaving without Blaziken's pokéball in your purse."

"That's different and you know it. The twins and their pokémon are inseparable. They wouldn't come along on this trip unless they could bring Spheal and Bagon with them. And Blaziken and Pikachu are our starters. They're family."

"And Lucario is member of this family too." Ash said, taking the pokéball from May and shoving it in his pocket."

"Ash, we agreed. No battles or training on this trip. Besides, you're the one who keeps after me about not overexerting myself while I'm in this…_delicate condition_, as you so chauvinistically put it."

"Think of it like this, May. I'm going prepared. You know as well as I do any time we go somewhere without our pokémon, something bad goes down. It's our lot in life. Some people are just born to get in trouble."

"Or trouble comes looking for us. Ash, I'm not even bringing my other pokémon. Heck, I'm not even bringing my cell phone. If somebody wants to get a hold of us, they're going to have to do it through the communications system on that truck thing of yours."

"Well, I'm taking it. Besides, I'm sure Max is tracking us, if he needs us, he'll know how to reach us."

May laughed softly. "Just make sure the pokéball stays put away throughout the entire trip. I don't want Sebastian getting any ideas. It's going to be enough fun driving cross-country with four kids. I don't want Max talking us into taking Midori too."

"Aw, Brock and Misty's kid is cute."

"Yes, but she's two, already talks like a six-year-old, can boil an egg and her mother is already training her to swim in water. I'm so not dealing with that, on top of our kids."

"At least we're not taking Dawn and Paul's kid. Sheila is more of a monster than PJ can be at times. She is Paul's seed in every way all right."

He shoved the last of their luggage into the back of the SUV.

"We'll be ready to go in a few minutes. Then we'll be outta here and won't have to worry about it." He looked around. "I could have sworn I heard the kids a minute ago."

May struggled to her feet, having a hard time despite her protests otherwise. "Sebastian Giovanni Ketchum! Paul Jameson Ketchum! Mozelle Diamond Ketchum! Amethyst Neil Rossdale!" May once was forced to read _Dune_ and realized one particular part actually worked; _The Voice_. Of course, it could be just the simple fact she used their full names. In short order all four reappeared.

"In the truck, now!" She pointed at the vehicle. Wordlessly, all four obeyed. Well, except for PJ.

"I don wanna ride in da boos'er seat. I wanna ride wit Daddy!"

Ash picked his son up and put him in the seat, snapping the straps shut. "Not till you get bigger, squirt." He felt bad for the boy, but every single region they were crossing required children his age to be in them, whether they were the sons of internationally known heroes or not.

"Uncle Ash, I want to sit with Zelly." Amethyst pleaded. She and the other two were only just barely big enough they didn't have to ride in one themselves.

"Sorry, Ammie. The seat's made to fit in the middle, unless you two want to sit in the back row."

"No way." May said, climbing into her seat. "They're sitting right in the middle row where I can keep an eye on them." She smiled at the girls, knowing full well what kind of mischief they were capable of. If Zelly were alone, she tended to be quiet and reserved, but Amethyst had a tendency to bring out the worst in her sometimes.

"Just don't sit next to me, Ammie. I don't need any of your girly germs on me and Bagon." Seb said as he took his seat.

"Shut up!" She replied, shoving him roughly as she walked to the back of the SUV and took her seat beside Zelly.

Ash climbed into the driver's seat last. While he was half a head taller than May, he still wasn't an extremely tall man, so he looked lost in the spacious cabin. She took his hand and gave it a good squeeze as he put the big SUV into gear.

"Okay, let's go get Brock and Misty married." He drove out onto the street, heading for the highway.

"Hey, he's touching me!" Zelly whined as they made the last turn before the expressway.

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"More than two thousand miles, Baby, and we haven't even hit the city limits yet." May chided.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**Just one quick note before you read: I did change Seb and Zelly's pokémon from Treecko and Cyndaquil, to Bagon and Spheal. It was a last minute decision but I feel more comfortable this way. I didn't want them to have the same pokémon that Ash had at the moment.

That's all I have for right now.

So without further ago, I present to you Chapter 2!

* * *

On occasion, Ash sometimes reverted to his old, random ways. If work was done for the day and all his responsibilities were taken care of, he would go outside for some intense training. Or, if he didn't feel up to that, he would quite easily park himself in the family room, pull out any one of several game consoles and burn up the better part of a day sitting and playing video games, whether they were up-to-the-minute versions of the most popular titles, or classics, like Pokémon Stadium (which he still considered the best of the series, even if the graphics were almost twelve years out of date. Even at twenty-nine, Ash could still be counted on to act childlike.

He still looked much the same as he had for most of his life. His hair was still a bit on the shaggy side, with loose locks of it hanging across his forehead. The back was tapered neatly, though a little cowlick still stood right smack in the middle of the transition. The only time he ever successfully got it to lay down was at the Coordinator's Prom, when he'd deliberately grown his hair a bit longer than usual so it would slick back. Even at his wedding he hadn't been able to do anything with the tuft.

Ash and May had been fighting the 'battle of the blade' almost constantly since about the first time she got pregnant. They had come back from an extended journey without access to toiletries, at roughly the same part of Ash's life when his beard really started coming in fast and heavy. The day they got home, May pulled out the clippers and Ash's electric razor and marched him into the bathroom to take the ratty looking beard off.

Her eyes nearly crossed when he came out sometime later with a neatly trimmed goatee and mustache. She tried everything in her arsenal to get him to finish shaving the rest of it off, but to no avail. She swore she wouldn't kiss him, that she would cut off other benefits, even tried the Eevee Pout on him, but he wouldn't budge.

Three days later, when May found out she was pregnant, the beard came off.

Sometimes he would grow it back, though it never got as thick as it had been at first. Then May would wear him down and he'd shave it right back off. One time she came very close to using the electric clippers on him while he slept, but backed off with the thing in her hands, ready to hit the switch. Oddly enough, the next morning he emerged from the bathroom clean shaven once more.

She had a notion that might have been when her daughter was conceived. It was hard to tell, considering the fact they had remained…very affectionate throughout their marriage, but it was nice to be able to point to some special occasion and say that was it.

Ash never quite seemed to change all that much, really. He still dressed a comfortably as possible (though May wouldn't let him out of the house with his ratty old 'journey clothes' any more) and carried himself as if he didn't care who was looking at him at any given moment. It wasn't so much that he was lazy…well, he still could be at times…but that he wasn't going to be going through life uptight about things.

As May sank down in the leather seat, she looked him up and down. About the only difference she could see in him was and the thick gold wedding ring he had on his left hand. Its twin rested on her hand, a large but simple gold ring, the kind you could see from across the room that announce _'I'm married!_' It was so large she had stopped wearing her other rings for a while, until one day she spotted them in her jewelry box and decided to wear them all. There was the sapphire ring he had given her on her sixteenth birthday (with matching earrings she still wore almost constantly) and a smaller engagement ring he had given her when he first proposed right after she turned seventeen.

A lot of people who spoke to Ash wouldn't come away thinking he was the brightest bulb in the pack sometimes, but when it came to things he liked, or like to do, he did them well, such as his spontaneous, unpredictable, and fairly unorthodox battle style and training methods. The previous morning, before they started packing the SUV, he taught his Typhlosion Double-Edge by ramming a tree in their back yard about fifteen times straight (which in turn, gave him a hell of a headache). May could still remember how he taught his Treecko Bullet Seed just by firing watermelon seeds out of his mouth. If there was one thing he knew, it was his pokémon. His philosophy on training was that Pokémon were individuals and that a combination of trust, friendship and hard work were needed to overcome adversity. And not only did he know his pokémon, he knew food. Even if he didn't know how to make even the simplest of meals, he knew what certain foods could do. With being cooped up in a vehicle, even one as large as the _Glissade_, with four hyperactive kids, he knew what he had to do.

Normally, when the kids hit the kitchen in the morning, they would simply start grabbing bowls of super-sweet cereal. PJ had inherited his mother's love of noodles, while the girls both liked anything that would turn their cereal milk chocolate (or cocoa moo, as Amethyst liked to call it.) That was great when they were just going to spend the summer days playing, or heading off to Trainer School as they would be doing in a couple weeks. Ash knew better than to let that happen.

PJ fussed, wanting his ramen, but ended up eating his fried eggs and bacon his mother gave him. Ammie had a lean piece of pan-fried steak since she had decided for herself to keep eating the same kind's foods she ate in her parents palace (though she complained about wanting a filet mignon instead.) The lack of highly-processed sugar in their breakfast had the desired effect. By the time they cleared the neighboring cities, they had all settled down. Then, as they reached the outskirts of Fallarbor Town, all three of them had drifted off to sleep.

"Let no one doubt your mad food skills." May said, easing her seat back slightly to partake in the blessed silence.

"Almost blew it. PJ was up before six and was all the way up on the kitchen counter trying to get his ramen down when I got up."

May just shook her head. "I swear, he's just like his uncle. Dad used to say he was a Mankey."

Ash did a little mock shudder. "Me producing a Mankey boy…irony much?"

"He's just…adventurous. He's not afraid of anything."

"Well, fear and paranoia have served us well in the past. I'm just worried he's going to learn some hard lessons. If he fell…"

"He probably would have run to us screaming that Mozelle or Sebastian or Amethyst did it." She said resolutely. Of course, if she were the one who found him climbing the cabinets, she would likely have turned his backside the same color as her Blaziken. May didn't like to use corporal punishment, but sometimes the firm application of an open hand was the only thing that could get through his thick Ketchum skull.

He also seemed to be tough as nails. One of the big no-nos in the younger Ketchum's home was that everyone wore their helmets if the so much as sat on a bike. PJ didn't think he needed one, because he didn't crash – ever. (Training wheels? What are training wheels?) He would tear around the neighborhood on his little 10 inch bike, trying all the stunts other kids two and three times his age were doing. Ash ended up having a custom ten inch dirt jumping bike custom made for him at the local bike shop. Most of the bikes built in that size were toys and wouldn't survive the day under the boy.

"You sure you don't need help navigating?" May asked as Ash scanned for the off ramp.

"May, please. I traveled like fifty times to and from Fallarbor and like two hundred in Hoenn when I was training. I think I know my way around here pretty well."

She crossed her arms, leaning back and smiling at him. "Baby, you came to Hoenn when you were barely fifteen. I don't think this is the same place fourteen years later.

"Hah, oh ye of little faith. Right here's the ramp for east One Thirteen. Littleroot here we come."

"First we have to get to Rustboro, baby. You're still not out of the woods yet." She gave his leg a little rub. The bet was still on. Even though they had a pretty straight shot cross-country once they cleared Fallarbor, there were still plenty of places to get lost, such as the interchange with Interstate 101 about halfway, or the place where they planned to find a room for the night, if they managed to get that far in one day of driving. The bet was that Ash was going to get them hopelessly lost and have to either use the computer navigation system in the SUV, or call Max to talk them back to the main road. Several items were on the table, including a rather extensive backrub, though May had little doubt she could get him to do that anyway once they got the kids settled down that evening. One of the great joys of motherhood, especially being as normally petite as she was, was a very sore lower back much of the time.

After lunch, May was going to take the wheel, giving Ash the chance to catch forty winks himself, or try to control the four kids, depending on how many carbs they managed to ingest at the mid-day meal. May would have been all about packing a lunch so they could stay on the road. That would mean they could keep on trucking practically all day, giving them some extra time to stretch their legs and unwind once they reached Littleroot. The kids would also want to hit the hotel swimming pool, no matter what the weather was like when they got there, or what the hour was.

Unfortunately, she was vetoed by a vote of five to one. If Ash had agreed with her, marshal law would have been declared and it would have been sandwiches, potato chips and juice boxes while under way. The rest of them would hear none of it. They were on a family outing, and that meant finding a fun place to eat along the way. May had horrible visions of pulling off the interstate and the only restaurant in sight was an Ursaring's Playhouse. Just thinking about that burnt pizza smell made her want to open the door and chuck her breakfast on the blacktop. Her pregnancy had been going smoothly for the most part, but just like the first time the morning sickness had lingered longer than expected. Even that far along, she would get queasy if she even smelled food she did not like.

May's eyes snapped back open. She was having a very nice dream that involved Ash where she wasn't monstrously pregnant and three screaming kids were safely in the care of her parents and Delia. It was the smell that awakened her, not anything Ash had done behind the wheel. He was softly humming along with the old _I Wanna Be A Hero_ song the built-in MP3 player was running. The kids were still quiet, and that was all that mattered.

Ash might not have been attuned to that particular odor as she was. It was extremely faint, much more so than it had been when she was a little girl, but to her it was unmistakable…

…nail polish!

Glancing at the chronometer in the dash, May realized she had actually been sound asleep for several hours. If things were not getting out of hand in the back of the SUV, then she would soon give Ash the signal that a rest stop was necessary. Her coffee that morning had been, out of necessity, decaf, but the fluid content of that ersatz brew was already taking its toll.

Twisting around, she looked in the back seats. Despite her admonishments, Mozelle and Amethyst had abandoned he middle row, climbing into the back seats where they could have a little privacy. She smiled to herself, knowing that at six-and-a-half and nearly nine their idea of what required privacy was much more innocent than it would be in as short as five or six more years. Amethyst may have tested as being as intelligent as a thirteen-year old or even a teen, but emotionally she was still just a little girl.

Mozelle, on the other hand, while doing pretty well in school herself, was pretty much just like her father. She was reasonably smart, but had to be pushed to reach her full potential.

While May was looking back at them, PJ opened his eyes for a moment, before scrunching them closed as he yawned and stretched. That's when she saw his hands…

…his nails were painted alternating purple and pink. The girls had been busy before absconding to the back seats. There was only one thing that would make boys want their fingernails painted, and that was if a cute fifteen year-old Coordinator was doing the painting. Those boys also were in the midst of puberty and well past the 'girls are icky cootie monsters' phase.

She counted down in her head. _Three, two, one_…

"Aah! Geb it off, GEB IT OFF! MOMMIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Whoa, what's going on? Somebody spill something, what's wrong?" Ash barked, trying to keep his attention on the road. May made a mental note to get a high-caffeine citrus soda out of the cooler for him. His eyes had been open, but he apparently had been lulled into senselessness by the long, non-descript interstate highway.

Pikachu appeared on Ash's shoulder, at full attention. He was even more protective of the kids than he was of Ash. "Pikachu-Buddy, why don't you go back there and keep an eye on the kids."

He gave him a little salute, then skittered to the back seat to observe the little girls plotting going on back there while May fished around in her purse, producing a bottle of nail-polish remover and the "Mommy" equivalent of duct tape – a pack of tissues. Unhooking her restraints, she carefully climbed into the middle seat. The giggling from the back seat signaled the two knew exactly why their guardian was wriggling her enlarged form between the bucket captain's chairs toward the whining three-year-old.

"When I get my hands on the two of you…Arrgh!" May growled as she tried wiping the color off her son's fingers. She was having a tough time of it, considering he was even less willing to have her scrubbing the nails with the foul smelling liquid.

"Pew! Stinky, Mommy!" She tried holding onto his hand so she could get it out of his cuticles. His cries only served to make the girls laugh all that much harder.

"Don't make me stop this thing." Ash warned from the driver's seat. Even though she was quite angry with the girls, she had to smile at that. It had to be a rite of passage for any father to say that while driving. Things were usually much easier in May's smaller, though aging Prius. She would have rather been in it herself, though it would have been quite cramped for the six of them over the next several days. Then too, it had seen its share of activities, some of which she was not about to bring up in the company of the children. In their early twenties, not all of their fun was had in the house they rented before their own house was built.

Finally wiping the last of it off that she could without a good sink to wash the vestiges away, May turned around, looking over the back of the seat at the two girls. They were sitting up on the bench seat, a small handheld device glowing between them. With a slight growl, she picked it up. "What are you doing with this?"

"Ammie was showing me how to download games." Zelly said, reaching for the silver handheld.

"This is not a toy." May scolded. "It's not like the one Max put together for you, it can go places you don't have any business going."

"It's okay, May." A voice from the little device said.

"Max?"

A wide, smiling face appeared on the screen. "I pretty much figured when they started downloading games from the Pichu Ears Channel website it would be them, so I've been monitoring so they wouldn't get into any mischief. If you want, I can set them up with some really cool games. I know Ammie likes to play Tetris for hours on in."

"I'd appreciate it." She smiled at her younger brother and passed the handheld back to the girls.

"Let's play Cobra, Ammie. It's a classic."

"No way! It's too easy. Let's do Spacewar."She said taking the handheld device from her friend.

"Can you two please keep it down back there? Bagon and I are trying to watch the Pokémon League! One of the trainer's has a Flygon. Bagon needs to study it." Seb shouted, fiddling with the television remote for the pull down screen.

"Shut up Seb!" Zelly replied.

"Don't you speak to me that way! I'm your big brother, yah know!" He barked back.

Zelly, sucked her teeth. "You are not older than me!"

"Check the records, sis. I was born before you were."

"By like twenty minutes."

"Doesn't matter. It was still a day before you were born. Therefore, I am indeed the oldest and therefore, older than you." He smirked.

Zelly rolled her eyes. "Ugh, get over yourself! I swear, sometimes you're so full of it!"

"Hey!" May warned.

Zelly glared at her twin..

"You're such a Meanface!"

Closing his eyes, Seb folded his arms and settled back into his seat."I'd expect that from a baby like you."

"Baby my butt…"

"Hey!" May said, a bit harsher.

Seb quickly turned around. "What was that?"

"You heard me."

"What, you wanna go right here?" He said, taking off his seat belt and standing up.

"Why not. Sphealie and I have the advantage!" She barked back, standing up as well.

"Please! Bagon and I will crush you! And after that I will!"

"All right, that's enough!" May said, starting to get angry.

"Stupid-head!"

"Big-Mouth!"

"Stinkybreath!"

"Weakling!"

"I said that's enough!" May shouted.

"If you two don't settle down back there, I swear, I will turn this thing around!" Ash shouted from behind the wheel.

Scowling, Seb turned back around in his seat. His sister did the same.

"You're such a meanie, Seb." Ammie said to him.

"Oh please. Go lie down Ammie. I don't need a talking to by a spoil rich girl."

"Hey!" Amethyst crossed her arms.

May made her way over to his seat. "Sebastian Giovanni Ketchum."

"Sorry Mom."

She held out her hand. "Give me Bagon's pokéball."

He gasped and hugged his pokémon. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I won't speak to them like that anymore! I promise!"

"Young man, if you don't give me that ball…"

"But Mom…"

"Now!"

Sighing, he took Baogn's pokéball out his pocket and handed it to his mother.

Enlarging it, May faced the small pokémon. "In the pokéball, Bagon."

"Ba Ba…" The dragon-type pokémon said sadly as it returned to its ball.

"You will get it back after we check into the hotel."

"Yes Mom." He replied softly.

"Ha!" Zelly laughed.

"Shut up, Mozelle!" Seb yelled, almost getting out of his seat once more.

"Mozelle, do you want your pokémon taken away too?"

"No Mommy."

"Then sit back and leave your brother alone."

"Yes Ma'am." She said, doing just so.

May shook her head as she turned around and settled into the seat beside her youngest child. He was already busy with the remote for the pull-down screen, flipping through the dozens of children's movies in the SUV's computer. Moments later, _Plusle and Minun's Great Adventure_ appeared, singing and rolling around in the grass with a Wurmple, Oddish, Teddiursa and Charmander. He discovered them when he wasn't even one, watching them whenever he got the chance. Amethyst absolutely despised the show. Oh well, it could be worse. That purple dino-thingy might still be popular with the kids.

"Aw, come on man!" Ash hollered, looking in the rear-view mirror.

"What is it, honey?"

"That jerk in the semi behind us has been tailgating me for the last twenty miles. Dude! It's an eight-lane interstate, you can go around me." He waved his arms, forgetting the tinted windows would keep them from being visible from behind. "Go around! Around!"

"Ash, just calm down. I need to stop anyway. Find us a rest area."

"I thought we all took care of our business before we left the house?"

"Hello! Who are you, Derrick Ketchum? That was four hours ago, and if I've got to go, you know the kids do." Ash's uncle was famous for his non-stop driving. If it weren't for the fact his old Camry had a fairly small tank and its aging engine was craving more and more gasoline, he would never stop. May recalled, not too fondly, a trip she had taken with him and Delia to Ash's grandmother's back when she was seventeen. She made the terrible mistake of drinking half a pot of coffee that morning, then riding the bumpy road to her cabin, followed in turn by having to meet and greet his hyper-critical great aunts before she could dash inside to the bathroom.

At least he knew he had better stop. Even before she was pregnant May threatened to hang her backside out the back hatch if he didn't find a place to pull over. Somehow he sensed she wasn't kidding.

"Can you hold out till lunch?" he looked at her in the mirror. One glance at her eyes told the story. "Guess not."

Crossing her legs as best she could, she twisted around, looking through the back glass. Sure enough, there was the big rig. It was one of the big ones, with a large sleeper and a fairly long nose. Huge tanks on the sides pointed to it being a long-haul truck, meant to cover great distances with its load. From her vantage point, she couldn't tell what it was actually hauling.

"He is kinda close. Ash, better pull off at the next exit. My weirdar is going off, just a little."

"M, kay. Hey, there's a Trainer Dee's QSR! Total score!"

"Anything, as long as it's got a clean ladies room." She took one more glance behind her as they shifted lanes.

If her weirdar had been going off before, it pegged as the truck changed lanes right along with them.


End file.
